Teens' Rudeness Leads to Heartwarming Gesture

Thanks to an Oregon resident who was always taught to respect his elders, one community transformed the casual rudeness of a couple teenagers into a heartwarming gesture for a neighbor. CBS News reports that Union Pacific employee Josh Cyganik worked across the street from 75-year-old Leonard Bullock's home for four years without ever saying hello. But, they would always wave to each other. One day in July, Cyganik heard two teens within earshot of Bullock say how crappy his house was and that it needed to be burned down. "The look on Leonard's face said it all to me," Cyganik tells ABC 7. "It was just bothering me, eating me up, and I knew I had to do something."

What Cyganik did first is get a friend who owns a lumber and paint store to donate materials, and then he posted a request on Facebook for volunteers. That post blew up, getting shared more than 6,000 times, and on July 18 around 100 people arrived to paint. ABC 7 reports even more people stopped by to drop off food and drinks; in fact, the outpouring was so generous they had enough food leftover to donate to the Salvation Army. According to Union Pacific's Community Ties, Bullock, who retired in 1995 and didn't have the money to fix up his home, was "ecstatic" about the new paint job, and volunteers were already working on a new porch for him. (More uplifting news stories.)